Say this in your best Alex Trebek voice: This television show is likely the last one you might think of for setting jewelry trends. The answer: What is Jeopardy!?
Whether it is Amy Schneider’s pearl necklace or Margaret Shelton’s gold pieces, Jeopardy! has created a jewelry buzz—and that only got more interesting this month when e.l.f. Cosmetics released its first-ever jewelry collaboration in honor of Women’s History Month, all thanks to a Jeopardy! answer gone awry.
Back in September 2021, contestant Matt Amodio attempted to answer what e.l.f. stood for in the cosmetics brand’s name in the acronyms category of the game. His response missed the mark when he came up with, “ears, lips, face,” rather than eyes. The clip went viral on social media, so the cosmetics company took notice and decided to have a little fun with the slipup.
In March, e.l.f. Cosmetics partnered with contemporary jewelry designer Georgina Trevino to create its first “ears.lips.face” adornment. Trevino created one of her signature ear cuffs for the company, which was a limited-edition release between the collaborators, which also included NTWRK. NTWRK made the cuff available for purchase as well.
As part of its Women’s History Month commemoration, e.l.f. Cosmetics raffled off the ear cuff and donated $1 for every entry to Project Glimmer, a nonprofit organization with the mission of inspiring young women to envision and realize their empowered future.
Trevino says the collaboration was a great fit in terms of her own efforts to empower women not only to look their best but also to feel like they can take on the world in terms of becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own trends.
“If I put jewelry on, I feel powerful,” Trevino says. “I like to say I’m a jewelry junkie.”
Trevino is best known for her work with high-profile celebrities, including Lizzo, Doja Cat, and Lady Gaga. She says she likes to push her creativity to the limits, working with gold and diamonds as well as other metals as part of her overall work.
The e.l.f. Cosmetics ear cuff started off when the company approached her to create something unique as a collaboration, Trevino says. She started thinking back on her high-school years and feeling that “2000s nostalgia,” Trevino says.
“I wanted it to be more of a statement piece—not your basic ear cuff,” Trevino says. “They gave me creative freedom, so I chose the butterfly, a symbol I like to work with already. It’s a symbol of growth and transition, and I wanted to relate it to the many transitions in a woman’s life.”
Trevino says she also wanted to highlight how those life seasons and the resulting growth doesn’t mean a woman changes who she is—she can still be fun and punk.
“You can still have that edge, which is why I added what looked like piercing to the ear cuff. You can feel like you have them without having to actually get that piercing. I love playing with that in jewelry,” Trevino says.
Her ear cuff with e.l.f. Cosmetics also stands out because it covers the entire ear, Trevino says. She created that larger look in part so she could include five butterflies on the cuff, relating to her love of numerology. Five relates to self-growth, which the butterfly theme and the story behind the piece directly relates to for Trevino as its designer.
“Jewelry is so powerful because it can say everything about you—it’s a conversation,” Trevino says.
Top: Jewelry designer Georgina Trevino models the e.l.f. Cosmetics ear cuff she designed in collaboration with the well-known brand as part of a riff from a Jeopardy! answer gone wrong about the cosmetics line back in 2021 (photos courtesy of e.l.f. Cosmetics and Georgina Trevino).
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